The Sarah factor

HER blog is packed with information and gossip. "The unusual treat today is green pea (yes pea!) ice cream as a starter – everyone agreed it was delicious." She then heads out to Italy's earthquake-hit town of L'Aquila. "I met up with Hollywood superstars George Clooney and Bill Murray," she notes. Then she bumps into Gordon. "We take the chance to make a call home and speak to our youngest son. I head off to rejoin the spouses for a nice Italian lunch."

There are no disclosures about how many glasses of red wine and how many cigarettes she is consuming each day, but is Sarah Brown about to become the Bridget Jones of UK politics?

The PM's wife's visit to Italy last week for the G8 summit in L'Aquila, Italy (along with her husband, a man called Gordon) was notably high profile. As well as the blog (www.sarahbrowng8.wordpress.com), there were regular Twitters and an internet photo album to match. Not only that, she grabbed the more traditional headlines as well. It was disclosed on Friday that Mrs Brown had rejected two plates of veal, an Italian delicacy, for ethical reasons. Animal rights campaigners say the meat is cruel because of the condition in which the calves are reared. That, together with a three-costume-change opening day in which she met the Pope – without Gordon – have given the impression that it is Mrs Brown, along with her close friends Michelle Obama and Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, who are the real main event in Italy this week.

The sudden outbreak of publicity is surprising, for Mrs Brown had initially set about her role as First Lady of Downing Street with notable circumspection. Cherie Blair had been widely accused for having exploited her position at the side of the prime minister for her own ends, touting herself on the international lecture circuit. Friends recall the newly installed Mrs Brown making it clear that a change was on its way. Her approach would be symbolised by a frugal approach to her wardrobe. "You can bet the bill will be a lot less than Cherie," she joked upon moving in.

Now, however, Mrs Brown has come to the fore in a way which perhaps exceeds even Cherie Blair. It coincides with a new phase in her husband's time at No 10, following an attempted coup in June. After that, Brown promised to respond to criticism of his leadership, pledging to open up more and discard the closeted factionalism which his critics so loathe. Popular, and self-evidently genuine, it is his wife, many courtiers note, who provides him with the best chance of all of softening his image. Now, as Brown faces up to his final months in office ahead of a general election he is expected to lose, friends say his wife has decided to do all she can to counter the bruising criticism her husband is being bombarded with.

SARAH Macaulay is well versed in the art of image management. Before meeting Brown, she worked first at the brand consultancy Wolff Olins before, aged 30, she co-founded the PR firm Hobsbawm Macaulay. She is said to have met Brown on a flight to Scotland for the Scottish Labour conference in 1994. A slow-burning and intensely private romance followed. She has long had to put up with being deemed a prop in attempts to soften her now-husband's gloomy image – beginning in 1997 when a staged shot of the pair relaxing in a restaurant was handed to a tabloid newspaper. What is not in any doubt is that the couple are extremely close and devoted to each other. They coped together with the tragedy of the death of their first daughter, Jennifer, in 2001. A year later, in 2002, Sarah founded the charity PiggyBankKids. It funds research to tackle complications in pregnancy, as well as supporting projects helping disadvantaged children. They now have two boys, John and Fraser, on whom they dote. Fraser, now two, has been diagnosed with cystic fibrosis.

Since moving into Downing Street in July 2007, Sarah has continued to promote her charitable work, while trying to ensure that her children get as normal an upbringing as possible. She is known to love getting back up to the family house in North Queensferry, away from the Westminster bubble. At Downing Street she has a small staff of two – a civil servant and an adviser – who help her with daily correspondence and meetings.

Unlike the official role of the American First Lady, the role of the PM's wife is nebulous and ill-defined. But Sarah has been largely determined to stay well in the background.

The first hint of a change came in September last year, at the Scottish Labour conference. Brown was being assailed by the threat of rebellion from his own MPs, and was facing yet another make-or-break moment. The tension was completely defused as Sarah walked onstage, unannounced, to introduce her husband. Labour's antipathy towards Brown melted. A crisis passed.

A few weeks later, during the Glenrothes by-election, she once again came to her husband's aid. With Brown reluctant to campaign directly in the seat, citing a custom that prime ministers stay away from by-elections, Sarah decided to take the plunge herself. A visit was hastily arranged. Unexpectedly, Labour held the seat. John Curtice, professor of politics at Strathclyde University, reflects: "You look at two of the more successful things that have happened to Gordon since becoming Prime Minister – his speech at last year's conference and the Glenrothes by-election. Sarah was absolutely central to both of them."

What is clear is that while many voters are fed up with 15 years of Gordon's brow-beating machine-gun rhetoric, Sarah's very English, very middle-class decency comes as a notable and welcome surprise. Maybe there is more to Prime Minister Brown than meets the eye, voters may well wonder.

It helps that, allied to this image, she is formidably well connected. There have been reports that Brown – along with her new friend Michelle Obama – is already working on ensuring a suitably global role for her husband when he finally leaves office. Furthermore, her media contacts in this country are second to none. One of her many causes has been to champion the case of Gary McKinnon, the British computer hacker who faces being extradited to the US. Was it entirely a coincidence that the Daily Mail newspaper, which

has a long history of praising Sarah, last week launched its own campaign on the matter? Those media contacts extend across other stables: soon she is to guest-edit the News of the World's Fabulous Magazine to promote her health research charity Wellbeing of Women.

Those close to the Brown camp say that Sarah has now begun to take a far more active role in the day-to-day business affecting her husband. Friends say she has been motivated by what she believes is the grossly unjust reporting of her husband's efforts in the media – a media which, she believes, has decided that Brown is a loser and therefore fits all its stories into that "narrative".

That frustration boiled over earlier this year following Brown's first visit to Washington to meet President Obama, after which stories emerged that the Obamas had snubbed the Browns by offering them a few plastic White House toys as gifts.

Much mirth was had at Brown's expense. Sarah was openly furious, claiming that the story was untrue, a product solely of the media's desire to push her husband further into the dirt.

One Brown ally says: "She's become much more influential than Cherie ever was. She's taking a very active role in the politics of things." The change has been self-imposed, say friends. She is not being used by anyone; she has simply decided to muck in. Once the couple's children are in bed, their apartment above No 10 is described as a "working flat", where key strategic moves are discussed. The friend goes on: "At Hobsbawm Macaulay, she was the networker, going out and seeing people. She sees that as her role again now." Brown, Gordon, has never exactly excelled in such soft skills. Brown, Sarah, more than makes up for it.

Such talk of increasing influence is poo-pooed by Downing Street aides. Claims that Sarah is being lined up by his back room team as a "secret weapon" are simply wrong, they say. "Sarah is doing what she has always done," said one No 10 figure. "For many, many years she has been involved with a number of charities like PiggyBankKids. These are things she believes in very strongly and they are things she wants to continue doing."

The aide added: "Recently she has started to Twitter and to blog and that has simply alerted people and the media to things she has been doing for a long time."

But, intentional or not, there is little doubt that, whether it be taking part in the gay pride march in London last week or turning down veal at the G8, Sarah is providing a more human face to the stern Brown regime in Downing Street. A human face that benefits her husband hugely. Or as one Labour campaigner puts it, turning to next year's election: "With Sarah by Gordon's side next year, you never know – we still might just nick it."